Back to base

Holidays are over, back at work and back to the regular training!

I rearranged the training schedule a little bit, made it a bit less ambitious that is. It's quite tempting to start playing catch up but I know how it goes, I would end up injured in no time. Anyhow, with another 6k run tomorrow, I will have run about 160k in July which is an absolute record! I know Paula Radcliffe may do that in an easy week but hey, I'm not Paula Radcliffe. Nor do I weigh 54 kilograms!

Let's get some rest now.

Is it hot enough?

I've had a few good weeks, training has been going pretty well! Mileage has been increasing steadily and the legs are managing the pace well. This week, with a long run of just over 20k, it should be going toward the 50k-week mark, an absolute record for me.

However I am taking it a bit easier! I am on holidays and it's not so easy to get out of bed at 6am and go for a 60 minutes run when the minimum temperature never got below 26 degrees Celsius! I'm opting for shorter runs just to maintain current fitness and will resume the schedule once I am back in base camp!

Back on track?!...

I've been away for quite a while. Sorry about that, I tend to avoid sharing bad news...

As far as running is concerned, the last six months were a bit of a roller-coaster really. January started off rather well, or so it seemed, but then probably I just overtrained with cold weather and got myself a nasty tendinitis. On doctor's advice I got off my running for a few weeks and as a result I indeed got a pain-free foot, but also a seriously swollen ankle! Go figure.

One problem led to another and almost three months later, after a number of doctor visits and scans, I've been diagnosed with an insufficiency in the lymph system on the right leg (the dodgy one.) Quite fitting, considering the name of this blog (if you're wondering, one of the symptoms if "heavy legs"!) I couldn't have guessed. Not serious at this stage but nonetheless. Long working days, sitting for long hours behind the terminal, do not help at all.

The good news are, exercising is the best way of keeping the swelling at bay.

So I resumed the exercise! And things aren't going bad at all! Apart from a freak sprained ankle while playing volleyball, I recovered some of the fitness of last year and I'm now again putting in the long runs. So much so that, together with some friends, we decided to take part in the next Brussels marathon, on the 4th of October! No overambitious goals, just finishing in one piece, anything below four hours is a bonus!

I'll be posting the training progress every now and then. Hopefully this time I'll manage to complete the program and stand at the start line on race day! Cross your fingers for me.